


The Klingon Empire.....a war coming up?

by Lionessinthedark



Series: Star Trek into darkness.....a bit different [15]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Betrayal, Hurt, Khan is not a bad guy after all, Post-Star Trek: Into Darkness, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 22:04:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4454069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lionessinthedark/pseuds/Lionessinthedark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Khan leaves the USS Enterprise....but why? What is his plan? And why is Jim acting so much out of character?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter one

Jim threw himself frustratingly on his bed. Was Khan that cold calculating bastard Jim had accused him of being? Jim decided to read the diary on the Padd again…..and no….the re-reading didn’t change a bit. Khan had been manipulating them all since the beginning. Played on their wishes and personality. Virtuously like a skilled musician.... Jim would at least have to admit that….

Jim threw the Padd in a corner. He felt so incredibly stupid and tried to occupy himself with something different. But he picked up the Padd again and red it over and over again, getting more and more frustrated….and that was in that mood Spock found him about three hours later.

“What is wrong?” he asked and Jim got on his feet, fetched the Padd and showed it to Spock: “It is Khan’s…I found it by mistake as I searched for old stories. Read it!”

Spock red it and then he looked at Jim: “It is a sort of diary. Khan made updates how he adjusted to his new life. Why are you in such a mood because of that?”

“Can’t you see it?!. Has he blinded you too?! Can’t you see his schemes, his plans? How he has manipulated us all into thinking that he is harmless?!”

Now Spock looked real worried, but not for the reason Jim thought: “Jim....you do know I love you. Sometimes I even admire you. But right now you are not the Jim I know... or knew. I’m not blinded by anything. Vulcans do not lie and we are very difficult to manipulate. I have contained Khan’s Katra and believe me, Jim, there is nothing he could have been hiding for me. Details maybe......as I “saw” new small details about his experiences as we were on Betazed. But not anything big......like being a villain. Like planning to deceive us. On the contrary.....what he chose to do on Betazed to save a lot of us from a terrible fate.....that makes him a hero, a saint, not a villain!”

“At Betazed?! What more happened at Betazed?!” demanded Jim to know. And Spock told Jim what had happened as Khan had tried to leave Betazed.

Jim sat silently for a moment and then he broke down in front of Spock and through tears he whispered: “Help me Spock......I can’t recognize myself anymore. It has been like that since we returned from Kurill Prime. You said that you only doubted Khan for a fraction of a second, but I lied.....I started to doubt him right there! Suddenly he was just the man who had killed Pike again!!! Help me, Spock. I do not wish to be that mean against Khan!! And the unforgivably things I said to him!!!”

Spock looked at Jim and asked: “What did you say to him?”

Jim didn’t dare to look Spock into his eyes but looked down and whispered: “That his love was a lie, that I didn’t trust him anymore, that every action from his side including saving our lives had been a manipulation and that I thought that his torture, that everything he had endured in Marcus’ hands was a lie too!”

Spock just looked at Jim and then he said: “You have been so busy being a diplomat in the Zena Empire that Bones and I didn’t want to burden you. It was a big mistake as I can see clearly now. We have been worried about you, Jim. But even more about Khan. His mind is different from the mind of a normal human, or else he would have broken down literately centuries ago, but he had started showing signs lately. Signs of depression: He sleeps a lot.....Khan who normally would be able to function without sleep for weeks........he sleeps more than 8 hours each night according to the ship-computer. He hasn’t been eating much. He doesn’t want to engage in sex......Khan whom you once described as a sex-god incarnated!!! He isolates himself only speaking to a very selected few: You, me, Bones and sometimes Scotty. He doesn’t trust the others anymore and then you take another friend away...yourself....and accuse him of being a cold manipulative bastard. Him......Khan.....who had just sacrificed his freedom on Betazed to save 25 of us from a fate literately worse than death!”

Jim looked up: “I’ll have to find him an excuse my words and hope that he would be able to forgive me! I do not know what went into me!!”

Spock suddenly rose to his feet: “Ship computer...locate Commander Khan!”

And the computer-voice said: “He is nowhere on this ship, Commander Spock!”

“O...come one. This is a space ship. He can’t just disappear up in thin air!” said Jim.

Spock looked at Jim with horror in his eyes. Jim had never seen Spock that frightened: “That is exactly what you can do on a space ship......vanish into the thin air....into the empty vacuum of the space. God be dammed, Jim. The man is depressed. He might have jumped out of one of the airlocks!!!”

___________________________

As Jim calmed down with the help of Spock, they realised that Khan had survived being exposed to the vacuum and cold of the empty space before and that they could ask the ship computer if any of the airlocks had been opened and the result was that none had been.

But.......one of the shuttles capable of warp had left the cargo bay not more than half an hour ago. Passengers unidentified since there had been a computer fall out in the cargo area right in the moment where the shuttle left.

“It must be Khan” said Jim: “but passengers!? Together with whom did he leave?”  
______________________________

Three hours earlier:

Jim’s last words were still ringing in Khan’s ears: “A manipulative bastard that can make us all do exactly what you want!!!!” and “I’ve only got your words for that torture!”  
Khan leaned against the wall, trembling. And then he slid down until he sat on the floor hiding his head in his hands...thinking. Like that he sat for about 2 minutes. And then he rose again with his usual feline graze. He had made his decision. There was no longer a future for him on this ship....at least not for now. Maybe he should have realized that years ago. But now he knew his path into the future.....maybe he would succeed and maybe not, but at least he could make a try.


	2. Chapter 2

As Khan entered the all-too-well-known brig area, he hurried towards the brig to his left.

The cell contained a very rare guest: a Klingon......since the Klingons normally would kill themselves if captured.

There were security guards standing around...armed. Khan recognized one of them: Ensign Horlub.

“Has there been any trouble, Ensign?”

“No, sir”, was the answer.

“Then leave, please. I’ll have to talk to the prisoner in private! I’ll take the responsibility!”

And they left with a “Yes sir!”

Khan took a step closer to the force-field and looked at the Klingon. A male. More than 6 ft. tall. Looked a bit like a very muscular black African male, only that the eyes were of a very bright blue colour and of course that he had ridges on his skull almost looking as if his vertebrae continued over the cranium. All of his jewellery....his piercings.... had he been forced to remove. He was only wearing the Klingon underwear: a loincloth, a set of stocking hoses, very similar to those worn on Earth in the middle ages and a shift. All in black and dark gray. No boots.

“Hmm....black always suits a villain....and middle-age Knights in space-ships....how strange!”, said Khan

“Have I saturated your curiosity, human?” said the Klingon on a bit stuttering but still very understandable Standard.

“You have... and I’m not human...” answered Khan and then to the utter surprise for the Klingon, Khan went down on one of his knees and bowed his head and continued in perfect Klingonese: “ _Ta'be'vaD ghItlhvetlh!_ ” (“your Majesty”)..... of course Khan spoke perfect Klingonese....even better than Uhura.

(And we’ll just continue in English as it is easier for us to read and when they speak Klingonese it’ll be in _italics_ )

And then he rose again and against the Klingon court-protocol looked the prince right into his eyes.

_“How did you know?”_ , asked the Klingon prince, now in Klingonese.

_“Hm...a small Klingon ship not suited for attack, but more for scouting. Armed of course... like all Klingon vessels. And when you were apprehended..... one Klingon that didn’t kill himself. Obviously more worth alive even without his honour! Royalty then. You are young. Haven’t got a beard yet. Expensive jewellery......you can only be one of the Emperor’s sons!”_

_“Impressive.....and let me return the favour. You look human and yet you are not. That let me guess that you are the one that Klingon soldiers killed on Growlar II. You are Khan!”_

_“Nearly killed! And isn’t it a bit stupid to tease me when you are on the wrong side of the force-field? A man once said that “bravery” was far the nicest word for “stupidity”!_

_“Maybe....but I was stupid enough to take a chance....a possibility to talk to a representative for the Federation and look where it brought me....in prison.....and you are the only one that I’ve talked to. So that makes two of us....miscalculating! But you are right about one thing besides your remark about stupidity. Middle age knights in space-ships. My father and my brothers are unfortunately stuck in the old warrior culture...hence warriors killing themselves when they are caught.....stupid! Honour is intact, but you have lost the ability to fight back! And my pilot....one of the finest Klingon pilots....and then he forgets that space has 4 dimensions! We were apprehended by a shuttle....a transporter-ship with only defence weapons. But that pilot....you can be proud of him.....he outmanoeuvred us.....using all 4 dimensions!”_

That remark did surprise Khan. Maybe this prince was different!

_“4 dimensions?”_ , he asked.

_“Yeah......with warp you have the 4th.....time too. That pilot of yours....he is not stuck in some old mindsets....And before my father and my brothers get their head out of their arses and start to think more modern, they’ll still think that a war against Earth would be the best idea ever!!”_

_“Funny that you should mention that pilot_ ” said Khan with a smile: _“that pilot is more than 300 years old!”_

The Klingon looked at Khan with his brows wrinkled: _“I didn’t know that humans could be that old?”_

Khan smiled: _“He wasn’t human!”_

And then the Klingon understood and he smiled back: _“It was you! Hmm... I wish I had your skills as a tactician!”_

_“Why?”_

_“Because I then would stand a chance to outmanoeuvre my father and my brothers and stop their insane ideas about starting a war against Earth! Maybe we could win that war....Tellurians are too fat and to comforted in their knowledge about “peace amongst people” ......but Earth is a small fraction of the Federation and thus a fraction of the whole Council.....and I do not know what part of his brain my father is using if he thinks that an attack on Earth would pass unnoticed!”_

_“What would you do if you were the Emperor then?”_

_“Approach the Federation and ask to be a member. My father holds the opinion that it would make us into slaves....I do not hold that opinion! And I see no reason to expand our territories...or kill humans! But I’m not that good a tactician that I believe that I can outmanoeuvre my father, my 6 brothers and their loyal soldiers.”_

And then something happened that startled the Klingon. Khan opened the force-field and stepped in with the words:

_“Well, trust has to start somewhere”_ as the force-field was closed behind him.

The two men looked at each other.

_“You are not afraid?”_ asked the Klingon.

_“I’m stronger than you_ _....and the two weapons that you have hidden in your clothes and that they did not find....they might cause me pain but would not be able to kill me!”_ was Khan’s answer.

The Klingon bowed his head and produced the two weapons that had been hidden in his clothing and put them on the floor between them: _“Are you going to interrogate me?”_ he asked.

_“No....I spoke about “trust”....would you allow me to touch your mind?”_

_“A mind-meld?”_

_“You know of them? I’m not as skilled as our Vulcans. But I can feel intentions. Would you trust me enough to allow me?”_


	3. Chapter 3

And that is why Khan and the Klingon prince...Krell....left the USS Enterprise secretly as Khan didn’t want to argue about the wisdom in trusting a Klingon. They had emptied on of the cargo rooms for Klingon outfit, Krell’s jewellery and weapons and Khan overruled the shuttle-bay’s computer as they left.

He didn’t leave without a word though as Spock found his message a few hours later as he and Jim realized that Khan indeed had left the ship:

“To commander Spock...as I’m not sure Jim wouldn’t delete it if he saw it was from me. I’ve realised, maybe many years too late, that there is no room for me on the USS Enterprise. Not as long as James Tiberius Kirk is captain. I do not know why he had changed his mind towards me, or maybe he had just hidden his animosity against me before. What he said to me today made me realise that I’ll always be “the man who killed Pike” to him, despite all his declarations of love towards me. Looking back I’m afraid that what he wanted from me was just sex and nothing else. It seemed as he always was torn between his attraction towards me and his disdain of me because of what I did then. And I’ve been foolish enough to let myself be manipulated.  
Well enough “navel-gazing” (it is an expression from ancient time on Earth, Spock). I have left this ship together with the Klingon prisoner. Not to start a war between the Empire and the Federation, but to prevent it.......I hope. If I fail, I can always say that I at least tried to make atonement for my creation of the very weapons that some people in the Star Fleet Federation still think they can use to win a war against the Klingons. I’m not blind for the fact that there are still fractions of the Star Fleet Federation that are having wet dreams (another tellurian expression, Spock) about a heroic war against the Empire. But war isn’t heroic. It is mutilated bodies, blood and gore and intestines splattered everywhere. It is waste of life and values. It is destroyed lives of innocent people. I’ve had enough of that. There is nothing heroic about that......and if I....if we....can manage to prevent that, it is worth every sacrifice! If I’ll never return again, you should know that I at least tried to save a lot of lives...both Human and Klingon ones. To use Jim’s words: “I do not know what I’m supposed to do. I only know what I CAN do!”  
Best regards  
Khan Noonien Singh”

Spock looked at Jim: “Well, what do you think right now, Jim? Is he just “the man who killed Pike” to you? Is he a traitor or not? And look, he didn’t even dare to call himself my...our......T’hy’la any more!”

Jim just looked at Spock: “I do not know....I’m so confused. I really do not know! One part of me long to trust him...but the other part of me is screaming: “You can’t trust him....you should never have trusted him!” And I do not know which voice speaks the truth!!”

____________________________

On their way to Qo’noS Krell wanted to know how skilled a tactician Khan had been.

_“Well, I was a space-admiral 300 hundred years ago and fought against the “Buzzers” and won!”_

_“One Buzzer-ship?”_

_“Oh my god no....their whole armada! First 30 ships and later 28 more. They were moving their whole species. I think they wanted to conquer Earth! What I do not understand is that the Galactic Council didn’t react or tried to help us!”_

_“The “Buzzers”...you use the Klingon word...my word. We are talking about those 6 feet tall insectoids, right?”_

_“Yeah”_

_“The early Council didn’t help as the “Buzzers” attacked two small Klingon mining-planets more than 800 years ago.....and we were sort of busy because of a civil war then. Our nightmare was always that those “Buzzers” should get their hands on “warp”.....we had the beginning of that 800 years ago. But then the “Buzzers” vanished totally.....they must have headed for Earth then, travelling 500 years to get to you!”_

Krell shuddered and continued: _“Do you know how they bred?” ___

Khan answered: _“They were insects.....so I suppose something with an ovipositor and eggs?” ___

Krell answered: _“ A bit more advanced than that. We have found vivid explanations on those mining planets. I’m not going into detail.....but the ovipositor wasn’t a wrong guess. Just that there were several “changes” in size and looks in the “Buzzers” life-cycle. Small winged versions that made small larvae that entered people’s brains that made them into very hungry brain-dead beings, that would eats themselves fat and hibernate as the second cycle would make one big larva, that finally would be a chrysalis in those empty bodies and crawl out as a small version of the grown-ups, leaving only the empty skin and the bones. The worst part is that it is so difficult to detect the small insects from the first stage! And you fought them and won! How many battalions did you have?” ___

Khan laughed: _“Battalions...oh my god. I had 3 spaceships...not capable of warp. 8 smaller ships called “Hunters”....about the size of one of the smaller shuttles from present time and 210 augmented soldiers!” ___

Krell looked at him.....and said: _“and you only lost 209 soldiers?” ___

Khan shook his head: _“No...only 50 soldiers died. 74 were so seriously wounded that they had to be “mended” on Earth, because they couldn’t heal on their own fast enough, you know....missing vital parts. And when the final battle was over, I had still 84 fairly unharmed augments left. It was those that I left in the cryo-tubes before I cryo-tubed myself, hoping that we somehow could escape being murdered if we avoided returning to Earth. Humans had decided that we as augments were too dangerous to be left alive after the Eugenic wars. My brother and the wounded soldiers were killed as they returned to Earth. When Marcus had finished forcing me, 72 were still alive in their cryo-tubes” ___

Krell just looked at Khan: _“I think that I’ve just met the biggest tactician in this universe if you with only 8 small spaceships and 3 big ones and only 210 soldiers managed to kill more than 100.000 Buzzers!!!” ___

Khan smiled: _“I only had to find their weak spot. That they couldn’t think for themselves but had a hive-brain and only the “queens” were able of independent brain-activity. When I first realized that they were so much like bees or ants, I just had to locate their ship with the active queen and kill her. Then they had lost their “head” and stopped fighting. It was quite easy actually, when I first saw it!” ___

Krell just smiled: _“Then I’ll hope that you can find my father’s weak point just as easily! And that of my 6 brothers....as you see.....there is quite an amount of killing before I’m on the throne!” _  
______________________

Krell and Khan discussed how they could come close to Qo’noS in a Federation space-shuttle without being shot down and Krell came up with a plan, knowing better than Khan how Klingons thought:

_“I hope you trust me Khan. But you’ll have to be my prisoner.......and handcuffed.......when I first find my allies and their ship...or else they might shoot you when they catch a glimpse of you, before I have a chance to explain. You have quite a reputation amongst Klingons!” ___


	4. Chapter 4

And it was almost as déjà vu as Khan was escorted by a group of heavy armed Klingons down a corridor towards the bridge, after they had been hailed and taken into custody by a Klingon space ship close to Qo’noS. Khan didn’t doubt Krell but he wasn’t entirely sure that he could trust his allies too. Better not provoke them when he didn’t exactly know their strength.

Just before they reached the bridge one of the biggest Klingon ordered the rest...and Khan....to stop. And he produced a nasty looking knife from his boots.  
_“I’m sure that my prince wouldn’t care if you arrived as a dead body”_ he said and moved the knife very close to Khan’s neck. The other guards didn’t say a word.

Khan didn’t even blink but said: _“It would be a big disappointment to him if I didn’t arrive alive!”_

And in exactly that moment the door to the bridge opened and Krell came forward: _“And I agree to that remark. Take the cuff’s of him!”_

_“But my prince” _, said the big Klingon as he knelt down on his knee...and the guards and Khan did it too. Khan thought it would be appropriate to show the other Klingons that he respected Krell too.__

_“Do you question my order?” _asked Krell.__

And the man looked up and said: _“But this man....Khan”.... _he almost spat the name out... _”he had killed my brothers!”___

_“And it was their own fault that they attacked a Federation vessel without any provocation...oh yes I’ve seen the recordings from the Ketha province then. And the soldiers on Growlar II...they made their own mistakes. Don’t blame your brother’s stupidity on this man!” _was Krell’s answer.__

_“I demand satisfaction!” _said the big Klingon.__

And Khan just looked at Krell and nodded a tiny little nod....it wouldn’t hurt the future cooperation if the rest of the Klingons saw Khan’s strength.

Krell looked at the big Klingon: _“Do you doubt your prince, L’orgh? Do you doubt that I’m able to find other allies than Klingons?”_

Khan could hear the warning in Krell’s tone of voice, but the other Klingon...L’orgh......didn’t catch it.  
________________________

15 minutes later Khan and L’orgh were standing in front of each other. Naked from the waist and up. The other Klingons had murmured as they saw how thin and pale Khan was compared to the very muscular L’orgh, but as soon as the men started fighting the murmur stopped. Khan was so fast and hit so hard and only when one of the other crew-members threw a knife to L’orgh it looked as if Khan could lose.  
L’orgh did manage to cut a deep incision in Khan’s thigh but that was as much as he managed to harm Khan. In one swift motion the Klingon was forced down on the floor on his stomach and Khan pinned him down by pressing his knees down on the Klingons arms. Khan had the knife pressed against the Klingons neck and L’orgh didn’t dare anything but to lie totally motionless.

Khan looked up at Krell: _“What are your orders, your majesty?”_

It was just as good a moment to show his obedience towards Krell as any.

Krell looked at L’orgh.....and then at Khan: _“Can you touch him enough to test his loyalty?”_

_“I can...”. _was the answer and Khan moved his left hand to touch the part of L’orgh’s face, that wasn’t pressed against the floor.__

30 seconds passed and then he looked up at Krell: _“Not totally....he might choose your father. He admires you but disagrees about the Federation and is very stuck in the old warrior mindset”_

Krell turned his back at the two men on the floor: _“I could have lived with the doubt.....but living according to the old mindset doesn’t indicate that you use a knife against an unarmed man in a joust. He has lost his honour. Kill him!”_

_“Yes, your majesty”_ said Khan and broke the Klingon’s neck.

Some of the other soldiers had apprehended the one who had thrown the knife to L’orgh and Khan pointed towards him: _“Do you want me to test him as well, your majesty?”_  
Krell stepped towards the young Klingon and asked him:

_"What is your excuse for such a disgraceful act?”_

But the young Klingon refused to answer. _“Test him!”_ ordered Krell. And Khan walked over to the young Klingon and touched his face. The young Klingon struggled and tried to turn his face away, but Khan made a firm grip and said: _"Either you choose this opportunity or you follow your friend who is lying there with a broken neck! Prince Krell’s order!”_

The young Klingon now allowed Khan to touch his face and after only 30 seconds Khan turned towards Krell and said: _“He is loyal...to you. But L’orgh had filled him with lies about me....”_

Krell looked at Khan: _“And since he is a threat to you.....what do you want to happen to him?”_

Khan wondered if Krell was testing him right now....but the answer was easy: “ _He is loyal to you, my prince. That is enough for me!”_

And Khan turned around and went to pick up his clothes. The Klingons did let go of the young one and they just looked at Khan as he entered the bridge.....What they had seen would require some thoughts.

Krell looked at them: _“Remember what Khan did today....and learn.” _  
__ And then he said something in ancient Klingonese: _“Khan is a warrior of the utmost honour!”_ and Krell turned around and went to the bridge himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I’m not a Trekkie and I’m not sure I’ve got the different races, Empires, Dominions and Federations correct. Not even how they are placed in the Galaxy versus each other.  
> All the stories in my series take place in the Star Trek universe and are in chronological order....in “the alternate reality” and “Post Star Trek into Darkness”, except from the first 2 stories and the main point is that Khan Noonien Singh is not a bad guy after all...or is he? Are there hidden agendas somewhere?  
> Khan’s background story differs from the canon, though.  
> And of course I do not own the characters. They belong to Roddenberry in the first place and Paramount in the second.  
> English is not my native tongue so I excuse if there are failures.


End file.
